1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for processing a depth image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a 3D camera and a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology for capturing distance information of an object have been under development. In this regard, in a time of flight (TOF) method of measuring a turnaround time of light, a distance between a capturing apparatus and an object whose image is to be captured (hereinafter, referred to as a depth image (depth)) is measured.
According to the TOF method, light of a particular wavelength, for example, a near infrared ray of 850 nm, is projected onto an object by using an light-emitting diode (LED) or laser diode (LD) and the light having the same wavelength reflected from the object is measured or captured by a photodiode or a camera and undergoes processing for extracting a depth image. A variety of TOF methods about light processing, that is, a series of operations such as light source projection, reflection from an object, optical modulation, capturing, and processing, have been introduced.
However, a depth image obtained by a TOF camera or a structured-light camera generally has a low spatial resolution compared to a color image. A variety of 3D applications including 3D image rendering, for example, view synthesis, depth image based rendering, etc, require a color image and a depth image that have the same spatial resolution. Thus, a technology to increase the resolution of a depth image, that is, to obtain a depth image of super resolution, is needed.